Want more than 74 seconds of Blackburn's crimes? See our "Reporter's Field Guide to Marsha Blackburn" with Appendices 1 and 2
Monday, May 26, 2014
Blackburn: Selling Families Down the River While Dancing for her Corporate Masters
Shouldn't Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN 7th) be working for the good of the folks back home?
Want more than 74 seconds of Blackburn's crimes? See our "Reporter's Field Guide to Marsha Blackburn" with Appendices 1 and 2
Want more than 74 seconds of Blackburn's crimes? See our "Reporter's Field Guide to Marsha Blackburn" with Appendices 1 and 2
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Blackburn Moves to the Head of the Crass
As if we Tennesseans did not already have enough crazy and injustice to worry about -- hell, the legislature is in session, and you know what Mark Twain said about that. Tennessee made network news infamy again this week -- I noticed on ABC's web site right there with Jessica Simpson weight loss and protests in Ukraine -- thanks to state senator Brian Kelsey's bill to allow restaurants and other proprietors to refuse service to gay people.
With manufactured consent of the governed at a high and the public's grasp of reality at a low, here comes Bill Maher reminding us how awful our members of Congress are. Maher is pledging to drive out a terrible member of Congress in this election year, and there are so many to pick from. They are calling it #flipadistrict, and they are soliciting: http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2014/1/31/test
Just in time for this topic of throwing the bums out, here comes Marsha Blackburn to thrust herself to the top -- surely -- of Maher's worst-in-show derby. That Blackburn went on Meet the Press Feb. 16, 2014, to "debate" Bill Nye about climate change should be a spoof headline in The Onion -- except it's not.
Blackburn is in TV ascent by default, anyway, now that Michele Bachmann is going back to Minnesota to gay-bust with husband Marcus and Palin is in Alaska cooking moose chili for Inside Edition.
As such, Blackburn is heir apparent to Bachmann as the leading female tea party nut job in the House, and who better than Blackburn to fill those Palinesque slots on Fox? Blackburn's tenure on Fox goes way back, before anyone this side of the tundra heard of Palin, when she first got in Congress in 2003 and Bush and Cheney used her as a female face to talk up the benefits of torture, wiretapping and bombing Iraq.
Here we stroll down memory lane, through the anals of the Blackburn horror show with some videos linked below. Check out older posts on www.ByeByeBlackburn.com while visions of a Blackburn-free Congress dance in your head. Just to get you warmed up, watch this: “We’re not going to cry ‘emergency’ every time we have a Katrina:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_xnUVrJx1I&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0&index=6
I encourage you who are like-minded to make some noise about all of this, as this is at least an opportunity to bring attention to one of the worst political hacks in the country and a blight upon Tennessee.
Here is a Top 10 (or bottom--there is so much more) we posted on Maher's blog:
She’s the “Queen of Mean.” Robin Hood in reverse. Heir apparent to Michelle Bachmann as the dingbat of the House. Speaking of Marsha Blackheart (aka Blackburn), of course, 7th district Tennessee.
Being a bought-and-paid-for political whore does not distinguish a congressman nowadays, but consider my Top 10 Blackburn blacklist:
1—“We’re not going to cry ‘emergency’ every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a tsunami,” Blackburn told a Congressional committee July 22, 2009. Later, she voted against flood relief bill within days after her district experienced record flooding in May, 2010.
2—Twice named one of the “Most Corrupt Members of Congress” by CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington). Blackburn admitted in 2008 she misplaced or misreported almost a half million dollars in campaign money, more than $300,000 of which went to her daughter and son-in-law. She also donated a grand to convicted felon and fellow House member Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, and she gave to Tom Delay’s defense fund.
3—Wants to be called “Congress-man.” Sponsored bill to abolish family planning, joined bill to redefine rape.
4—During Bush terms she voted for two unfunded wars, unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy, unfunded no child left behind, unfunded Medicare part D, while Bush increased spending by 88% and added $4 trillion to the national debt. Since Bush, she has been all over Obama’s awful debt run-up and reckless spending on health care and moochers and disaster victims.
5—Got caught trying to pilfer the emails of a Republican primary opponent in 2008, then put out a mailer that said he was for “free healthcare for illegals.”
6—Took a family vacation at taxpayer expense to Oslo, Norway, in 2009.
7—Voted against health care for 9-11 First Responders and the Made in America Act in 2010.
8—Never debates an opponent. Never needs to. She has never even been quoted as uttering the name of a Democratic opponent. She doesn’t have to do squat for the people of her district she is so comfortably Gerry-mandered.
9—Served as Bush-Cheney TV lapdog and front woman to promote bombing Iraq, wiretapping, torture on Fox, etc., as soon as she got to Washington in 2003. Infamously got her “talking points” out of order one day and the Fox host went, “no, no, no…”
10—Wants to abolish Social Security, Medicare, Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, National Public Radio, HUD, Department of Labor, Planned Parenthood, FCC, student loans, breakfast for poor kids, etc….hates the unemployed, the poor, sick people, American workers, Big Bird.
BONUS ROUND:
11—Watch Blackburn dance as puppet in witch hat and pointy shoes: “Whose Side is Marsha Blackburn On?” (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNLA_w3QKww&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0&index=8
12—Introduced her Orwellian-named “Internet Freedom Act” to hand the U.S.-government developed Internet to her large sponsors, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. Wants to de-fund FCC.
13—“Birther" Blackburn screeched non-stop that Obama was born in Kenya. June 2009, Blackburn sponsored bill to make presidential candidates show their birth certificate.
14—Pushes to allow med insurance corporations to operate across all 50 states so they can cut costs, jack profits and all move to the state which courts them with the most lax laws in the land. Somewhat like corporations forming in Delaware for the softest laws and credit card companies moving to South Dakota.
15—Rudely showed her Mississippi upbringing in a committee hearing March 15, 2013, when she repeatedly cut off Tennessee native and “Deadly Spin” author Wendell Potter while she was “questioning” him (grandstanding herself), allowing him a total of 20 seconds to “answer” within her five minutes of grandstanding. Blackburn used Mr. Potter as a Pinata, asking him questions but then quickly cutting him off so that she could continue her fraudulent tirade. Of Blackburn's five minutes to have the floor, she ranted for all but 20 seconds -- 20 seconds worth of Mr. Potter trying to get out a response to Blackburn's bombastic whine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZK9_YseHhc
16—A dim bulb herself, Blackburn in 2011 sponsored the "Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act." Blackburn ranted like it would be the end of the world if incandescent bulbs were phased out, saying things like “save the bulbs” and fluorescent bulbs “don’t save any energy.”
OTHER VIDEO LINKS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjuGfFBrHg
“Whose Side is Marsha Blackburn on?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNLA_w3QKww&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Protestors at Backburn’s office, Channel 5:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSSeOlaqMz8
“Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Filibusters her Witness…” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZK9_YseHhc&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Blackburn calls for individual social security accounts”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtebyu2S93I&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Blackburn makes an ugly face: Freedom Dies”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L35-gStS-Ks
“Bye, Bye Blackburn – Hello Rabidoux” (2010 Election)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdEQgPLGKE
“‘Bye, Bye Blackburn,’ sing her Williamson County Neighbors”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB7_AGvbNkA&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Rep. Marsha Blackburn Traitor and Corporate Shill”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjuGfFBrHg
With manufactured consent of the governed at a high and the public's grasp of reality at a low, here comes Bill Maher reminding us how awful our members of Congress are. Maher is pledging to drive out a terrible member of Congress in this election year, and there are so many to pick from. They are calling it #flipadistrict, and they are soliciting: http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2014/1/31/test
Just in time for this topic of throwing the bums out, here comes Marsha Blackburn to thrust herself to the top -- surely -- of Maher's worst-in-show derby. That Blackburn went on Meet the Press Feb. 16, 2014, to "debate" Bill Nye about climate change should be a spoof headline in The Onion -- except it's not.
Blackburn is in TV ascent by default, anyway, now that Michele Bachmann is going back to Minnesota to gay-bust with husband Marcus and Palin is in Alaska cooking moose chili for Inside Edition.
As such, Blackburn is heir apparent to Bachmann as the leading female tea party nut job in the House, and who better than Blackburn to fill those Palinesque slots on Fox? Blackburn's tenure on Fox goes way back, before anyone this side of the tundra heard of Palin, when she first got in Congress in 2003 and Bush and Cheney used her as a female face to talk up the benefits of torture, wiretapping and bombing Iraq.
Here we stroll down memory lane, through the anals of the Blackburn horror show with some videos linked below. Check out older posts on www.ByeByeBlackburn.com while visions of a Blackburn-free Congress dance in your head. Just to get you warmed up, watch this: “We’re not going to cry ‘emergency’ every time we have a Katrina:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_xnUVrJx1I&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0&index=6
I encourage you who are like-minded to make some noise about all of this, as this is at least an opportunity to bring attention to one of the worst political hacks in the country and a blight upon Tennessee.
Here is a Top 10 (or bottom--there is so much more) we posted on Maher's blog:
She’s the “Queen of Mean.” Robin Hood in reverse. Heir apparent to Michelle Bachmann as the dingbat of the House. Speaking of Marsha Blackheart (aka Blackburn), of course, 7th district Tennessee.
Being a bought-and-paid-for political whore does not distinguish a congressman nowadays, but consider my Top 10 Blackburn blacklist:
1—“We’re not going to cry ‘emergency’ every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a tsunami,” Blackburn told a Congressional committee July 22, 2009. Later, she voted against flood relief bill within days after her district experienced record flooding in May, 2010.
2—Twice named one of the “Most Corrupt Members of Congress” by CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington). Blackburn admitted in 2008 she misplaced or misreported almost a half million dollars in campaign money, more than $300,000 of which went to her daughter and son-in-law. She also donated a grand to convicted felon and fellow House member Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, and she gave to Tom Delay’s defense fund.
3—Wants to be called “Congress-man.” Sponsored bill to abolish family planning, joined bill to redefine rape.
4—During Bush terms she voted for two unfunded wars, unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy, unfunded no child left behind, unfunded Medicare part D, while Bush increased spending by 88% and added $4 trillion to the national debt. Since Bush, she has been all over Obama’s awful debt run-up and reckless spending on health care and moochers and disaster victims.
5—Got caught trying to pilfer the emails of a Republican primary opponent in 2008, then put out a mailer that said he was for “free healthcare for illegals.”
6—Took a family vacation at taxpayer expense to Oslo, Norway, in 2009.
7—Voted against health care for 9-11 First Responders and the Made in America Act in 2010.
8—Never debates an opponent. Never needs to. She has never even been quoted as uttering the name of a Democratic opponent. She doesn’t have to do squat for the people of her district she is so comfortably Gerry-mandered.
9—Served as Bush-Cheney TV lapdog and front woman to promote bombing Iraq, wiretapping, torture on Fox, etc., as soon as she got to Washington in 2003. Infamously got her “talking points” out of order one day and the Fox host went, “no, no, no…”
10—Wants to abolish Social Security, Medicare, Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, National Public Radio, HUD, Department of Labor, Planned Parenthood, FCC, student loans, breakfast for poor kids, etc….hates the unemployed, the poor, sick people, American workers, Big Bird.
BONUS ROUND:
11—Watch Blackburn dance as puppet in witch hat and pointy shoes: “Whose Side is Marsha Blackburn On?” (2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNLA_w3QKww&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0&index=8
12—Introduced her Orwellian-named “Internet Freedom Act” to hand the U.S.-government developed Internet to her large sponsors, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. Wants to de-fund FCC.
13—“Birther" Blackburn screeched non-stop that Obama was born in Kenya. June 2009, Blackburn sponsored bill to make presidential candidates show their birth certificate.
14—Pushes to allow med insurance corporations to operate across all 50 states so they can cut costs, jack profits and all move to the state which courts them with the most lax laws in the land. Somewhat like corporations forming in Delaware for the softest laws and credit card companies moving to South Dakota.
15—Rudely showed her Mississippi upbringing in a committee hearing March 15, 2013, when she repeatedly cut off Tennessee native and “Deadly Spin” author Wendell Potter while she was “questioning” him (grandstanding herself), allowing him a total of 20 seconds to “answer” within her five minutes of grandstanding. Blackburn used Mr. Potter as a Pinata, asking him questions but then quickly cutting him off so that she could continue her fraudulent tirade. Of Blackburn's five minutes to have the floor, she ranted for all but 20 seconds -- 20 seconds worth of Mr. Potter trying to get out a response to Blackburn's bombastic whine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZK9_YseHhc
16—A dim bulb herself, Blackburn in 2011 sponsored the "Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act." Blackburn ranted like it would be the end of the world if incandescent bulbs were phased out, saying things like “save the bulbs” and fluorescent bulbs “don’t save any energy.”
OTHER VIDEO LINKS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjuGfFBrHg
“Whose Side is Marsha Blackburn on?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNLA_w3QKww&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Protestors at Backburn’s office, Channel 5:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSSeOlaqMz8
“Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Filibusters her Witness…” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZK9_YseHhc&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Blackburn calls for individual social security accounts”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtebyu2S93I&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Blackburn makes an ugly face: Freedom Dies”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L35-gStS-Ks
“Bye, Bye Blackburn – Hello Rabidoux” (2010 Election)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdEQgPLGKE
“‘Bye, Bye Blackburn,’ sing her Williamson County Neighbors”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB7_AGvbNkA&list=PL0ABE56D3C78276E0
“Rep. Marsha Blackburn Traitor and Corporate Shill”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjuGfFBrHg
Friday, April 5, 2013
Blackburn Has Lost All Southern Manners, Trading Them for Washington Grandstanding
In a recent House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health meeting, Blackburn cranked up her usual narcissistic grandstanding --- except she especially went off the rails this time, even for the Blackhearted One. She was particularly rude -- downright, un-Southern rude and crude -- to a health insurance expert who had been dragged before the committee to testify. I am speaking here of Wendell Potter, author of Deadly Spin and health insurance industry whistleblower, who happens to be a Tennessee native and University of Tennessee graduate.
If you can stand to listen to Blackburn's screeching --- I had almost forgotten how painful it is to hear her fingernails against the blackboard voice --- below is the video of her shameful conduct. Otherwise, read the link below from healthinsurance.org for truth and substance.
Blackburn used Mr. Potter as a Pinata, asking him questions but then quickly cutting him off so that she could continue her fraudulent tirade. Of Blackburn's five minutes to have the floor, she ranted for all but 20 seconds -- 20 seconds worth of Mr. Potter trying to get out a response to Blackburn's bombastic whine.
Blackburn claimed that health insurance premiums had been rising and it was ALL BECAUSE OF OBAMACARE! Oh, no! And she pretended to shuffle letters she had received from small businesses that were lamenting this issue. Now, let's not get bogged down here by the fact that health insurance and medical costs have been moon-rocketing for decades, at a faster and more persistent clip than just about anything else, this side of volatile commodities.
Graciously, showing his Southern background and manners, Mr. Potter wrote to Mrs. Blackburn and offered to investigate each one of Blackburn's alleged examples -- free of charge to taxpayers or Mrs. Blackburn's staff budget or the Subcommittee's funds. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?
The point is that everyone has a unique story and example, as Mr. Potter explains in this report about Leslie Elder, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, which resulted in her husband's small business having to drop coverage for his employees after the insurance company jacked up premiums to an impossible amount because, well, they didn't really want to have to cover someone who actually was sick.
Read this: http://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2013/03/28/a-helping-hand-for-rep-marsha-blackburn/
By the way, don't be shocked: Blackburn's two largest campaign donation categories by far recently have been "health professionals" and "pharmaceuticals/health products." Link: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003105
Contact Blackburn:
217 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-2811
305 Public Square
Suite 212
Franklin, TN 37064
615-591-5161
If you can stand to listen to Blackburn's screeching --- I had almost forgotten how painful it is to hear her fingernails against the blackboard voice --- below is the video of her shameful conduct. Otherwise, read the link below from healthinsurance.org for truth and substance.
Blackburn used Mr. Potter as a Pinata, asking him questions but then quickly cutting him off so that she could continue her fraudulent tirade. Of Blackburn's five minutes to have the floor, she ranted for all but 20 seconds -- 20 seconds worth of Mr. Potter trying to get out a response to Blackburn's bombastic whine.
Blackburn claimed that health insurance premiums had been rising and it was ALL BECAUSE OF OBAMACARE! Oh, no! And she pretended to shuffle letters she had received from small businesses that were lamenting this issue. Now, let's not get bogged down here by the fact that health insurance and medical costs have been moon-rocketing for decades, at a faster and more persistent clip than just about anything else, this side of volatile commodities.
Graciously, showing his Southern background and manners, Mr. Potter wrote to Mrs. Blackburn and offered to investigate each one of Blackburn's alleged examples -- free of charge to taxpayers or Mrs. Blackburn's staff budget or the Subcommittee's funds. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?
The point is that everyone has a unique story and example, as Mr. Potter explains in this report about Leslie Elder, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, which resulted in her husband's small business having to drop coverage for his employees after the insurance company jacked up premiums to an impossible amount because, well, they didn't really want to have to cover someone who actually was sick.
Read this: http://www.healthinsurance.org/blog/2013/03/28/a-helping-hand-for-rep-marsha-blackburn/
By the way, don't be shocked: Blackburn's two largest campaign donation categories by far recently have been "health professionals" and "pharmaceuticals/health products." Link: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003105
Contact Blackburn:
217 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-2811
305 Public Square
Suite 212
Franklin, TN 37064
615-591-5161
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
In Brief Gap of Vacuum of the Vacuous, Here Comes Blackburn, Doubling Down on Going Backwards
NOTE: Nashville City Paper agrees with our conclusion about this political attention-shifting to Blackburn, now that Palin's and Bachmann's stars have fallen. Here is a link to their story, which basically says Blackburn is spending a lot of time on TV lately --- like we said, in this Vacuum, here comes the Vacuous, Marsha Blackburn. http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/blackburn-again-finds-herself-middle-political-fray-time-gop-course-stake
7th District Rep. Marsha Blackburn learned nothing from the 2012 election, when Americans generally voted against her kind---the ones who want to re-define rape, who want to do nothing to spur the economy, who want to abolish public education, who want to cut off all help for regular people so taxpayer money can be used to subsidize giant corporations who toast her at fundraisers.
Perhaps, after being overshadowded by Palin as the last decade ended and by Bachmann, who got press as she sought to be the 2012 GOP presidential choice, Blackburn believes she must seize this moment of a relative vacuum of the vacuous---and assert her position as no less misguided and destructive than the other two of this unholy trinity.
From Women's Health News, an examination of Blackburn's recent sponsorship of a bill to abolish family planning:
http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/in-tennessee-marsha-blackburn-doesnt-speak-for-me/?utm_source=January+22%2C+2013&utm_campaign=bluetn.com&utm_medium=email
...and from Daily Kos a look at Blackburn as she yearns to replay that Republican tune of hurting America by taking the government hostage....as well as her disinterest in storm Sandy victims, a hark back to her days of "We can't cry 'emergency,' every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a tsunami." http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/15/1179043/-This-is-what-a-Government-Hostage-taker-looks-like
For old time's sake, here is a clip from Blackburn's "What emergency?" video:
7th District Rep. Marsha Blackburn learned nothing from the 2012 election, when Americans generally voted against her kind---the ones who want to re-define rape, who want to do nothing to spur the economy, who want to abolish public education, who want to cut off all help for regular people so taxpayer money can be used to subsidize giant corporations who toast her at fundraisers.
Perhaps, after being overshadowded by Palin as the last decade ended and by Bachmann, who got press as she sought to be the 2012 GOP presidential choice, Blackburn believes she must seize this moment of a relative vacuum of the vacuous---and assert her position as no less misguided and destructive than the other two of this unholy trinity.
From Women's Health News, an examination of Blackburn's recent sponsorship of a bill to abolish family planning:
http://womenshealthnews.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/in-tennessee-marsha-blackburn-doesnt-speak-for-me/?utm_source=January+22%2C+2013&utm_campaign=bluetn.com&utm_medium=email
...and from Daily Kos a look at Blackburn as she yearns to replay that Republican tune of hurting America by taking the government hostage....as well as her disinterest in storm Sandy victims, a hark back to her days of "We can't cry 'emergency,' every time we have a Katrina, every time we have a tsunami." http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/15/1179043/-This-is-what-a-Government-Hostage-taker-looks-like
For old time's sake, here is a clip from Blackburn's "What emergency?" video:
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Blackburn's Internet Bill Repays Her Corporate Sponsors
LINK TO: THE TENNESSEAN, OP-ED, FEB. 11, 2010
'Internet Freedom' Bill Does Opposite,
Serving Comcast, ATT, Verizon CEOs
Print journalism reminded us of its value through Bill Theobald's story in The Tennessean Feb. 4 about 7th District Rep. Marsha Blackburn's intakes of special-interest PAC money from industries she must vote on in Congress.
A smidgen of analysis and a spoonful of clarification are in order, however.
Primarily important, the story's facts and math underscore an expanding threat to American democracy, and that is getting multinational and large corporations out of Congress and the electoral process. Corporatism is in favor; middle class democracy is out. Nothing significant will get accomplished in Washington until that changes.
So long as Blackburn luxuriates in the money that corporate sponsors toss her way, she will fight until her last fingernail chips holding onto the loophole-filled system we have now.
Figures do not lie. Of the $1.6 million Blackburn raised in the 2009-2010 election cycle, more than half came from special-interest PACs, including $105,250 from communications/technology interests, according to The Tennessean's story.
Not surprisingly, Blackburn has introduced a bill in Congress to privatize the Internet and hand it over to the profit-making designs of the giant Internet Service Providers, such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.
Would you believe that Comcast, AT&T and Verizon are her three largest contributors in that industry?
In Orwellian fashion which seems to make every day in Congress "Opposite Day," Blackburn's HR 96 is styled as "The Internet Freedom Act."
Freedom for whom? While Blackburn realizes she must talk the talk of Internet equal rights for all (AKA Net Neutrality), which is what we have now and which Americans do not want to lose, her bill does the opposite. Blackburn's bill would forbid the Federal Communications Commission from regulating or overseeing one byte of the Internet, thus stripping the FCC's long-held role of watchdog for the public interests.
Blackburn's bill would be more accurately named the "Corporate Takeover and Privatization of the Internet Act."
For all of Blackburn's attempts to confuse the issue, it is really simple: What's best for the corporations vs. what is best for the American people. Do you want Wall Street to shape the Internet to benefit their CEOs and shareholders, or do you want free speech and the First Amendment in charge?
Blackburn's bill would allow the ISPs to throw up "toll roads" on the information superhighway. You will pay more for fewer choices. It will be pay-per-view. Your favorite sites could move more slowly than before, because the telecoms are making more profitable sites move faster. Oh, and they will know which sites you like and which to charge extra for by snooping on your transmissions, just as if someone opened every piece of snail mail you receive before delivering it.
Do you like to Skype? Use Vonage or Magic Jack for long distance calls? Those competitors of the phone and cable companies will cost more, and may be driven out of business, after the Internet is privatized.
Do you like Netflix? Using technology similar to what the Chinese government uses to effect censorship, Comcast in 2007 was caught secretly cutting off the connection between consumers and Netflix, which competes with Comcast for movie viewers.
Google started in a garage. Facebook started in a dorm room. What if those startups had not had access to relatively cheap messaging on the Internet? It is the entrepreneurs and small businesses that drive employment in the U.S.; the large corporations and multinationals are rewarded by Wall Street when they lay off workers or cut costs by shipping jobs off-shore.
The Internet was developed by the U.S. government---that means us, the people---for military use at first, and then UCLA researchers, funded by a federal grant, made the Internet suitable for public consumption.
For candidates who are not wealthy and for anyone who wants to post and search for diverse opinions, and for small businesses, the Internet is the last level playing field. America's unique spirit of free enterprise and a chance for everyone to make it is embodied in the Internet like it is nowhere else. Equal Internet rights go hand in hand with democracy.
Regular Americans paid for the Internet. We expect to keep it. Just as most Americans do not want Social Security to be privatized and put in Wall Street's hands, we do not want the Internet to be privatized.
Figures do not lie. Politicians do.
Gary Moore is Public Information Coordinator for Citizens for a Free and Open Internet PAC.
READ THE PREVIOUS POST BELOW, WHICH IS THE FEB. 4 TENNESSEAN STORY THE ABOVE OP-ED PIECE WAS BASED ON! CHECK IT OUT!
'Internet Freedom' Bill Does Opposite,
Serving Comcast, ATT, Verizon CEOs
Print journalism reminded us of its value through Bill Theobald's story in The Tennessean Feb. 4 about 7th District Rep. Marsha Blackburn's intakes of special-interest PAC money from industries she must vote on in Congress.
A smidgen of analysis and a spoonful of clarification are in order, however.
Primarily important, the story's facts and math underscore an expanding threat to American democracy, and that is getting multinational and large corporations out of Congress and the electoral process. Corporatism is in favor; middle class democracy is out. Nothing significant will get accomplished in Washington until that changes.
So long as Blackburn luxuriates in the money that corporate sponsors toss her way, she will fight until her last fingernail chips holding onto the loophole-filled system we have now.
Figures do not lie. Of the $1.6 million Blackburn raised in the 2009-2010 election cycle, more than half came from special-interest PACs, including $105,250 from communications/technology interests, according to The Tennessean's story.
Not surprisingly, Blackburn has introduced a bill in Congress to privatize the Internet and hand it over to the profit-making designs of the giant Internet Service Providers, such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.
Would you believe that Comcast, AT&T and Verizon are her three largest contributors in that industry?
In Orwellian fashion which seems to make every day in Congress "Opposite Day," Blackburn's HR 96 is styled as "The Internet Freedom Act."
Freedom for whom? While Blackburn realizes she must talk the talk of Internet equal rights for all (AKA Net Neutrality), which is what we have now and which Americans do not want to lose, her bill does the opposite. Blackburn's bill would forbid the Federal Communications Commission from regulating or overseeing one byte of the Internet, thus stripping the FCC's long-held role of watchdog for the public interests.
Blackburn's bill would be more accurately named the "Corporate Takeover and Privatization of the Internet Act."
For all of Blackburn's attempts to confuse the issue, it is really simple: What's best for the corporations vs. what is best for the American people. Do you want Wall Street to shape the Internet to benefit their CEOs and shareholders, or do you want free speech and the First Amendment in charge?
Blackburn's bill would allow the ISPs to throw up "toll roads" on the information superhighway. You will pay more for fewer choices. It will be pay-per-view. Your favorite sites could move more slowly than before, because the telecoms are making more profitable sites move faster. Oh, and they will know which sites you like and which to charge extra for by snooping on your transmissions, just as if someone opened every piece of snail mail you receive before delivering it.
Do you like to Skype? Use Vonage or Magic Jack for long distance calls? Those competitors of the phone and cable companies will cost more, and may be driven out of business, after the Internet is privatized.
Do you like Netflix? Using technology similar to what the Chinese government uses to effect censorship, Comcast in 2007 was caught secretly cutting off the connection between consumers and Netflix, which competes with Comcast for movie viewers.
Google started in a garage. Facebook started in a dorm room. What if those startups had not had access to relatively cheap messaging on the Internet? It is the entrepreneurs and small businesses that drive employment in the U.S.; the large corporations and multinationals are rewarded by Wall Street when they lay off workers or cut costs by shipping jobs off-shore.
The Internet was developed by the U.S. government---that means us, the people---for military use at first, and then UCLA researchers, funded by a federal grant, made the Internet suitable for public consumption.
For candidates who are not wealthy and for anyone who wants to post and search for diverse opinions, and for small businesses, the Internet is the last level playing field. America's unique spirit of free enterprise and a chance for everyone to make it is embodied in the Internet like it is nowhere else. Equal Internet rights go hand in hand with democracy.
Regular Americans paid for the Internet. We expect to keep it. Just as most Americans do not want Social Security to be privatized and put in Wall Street's hands, we do not want the Internet to be privatized.
Figures do not lie. Politicians do.
Gary Moore is Public Information Coordinator for Citizens for a Free and Open Internet PAC.
READ THE PREVIOUS POST BELOW, WHICH IS THE FEB. 4 TENNESSEAN STORY THE ABOVE OP-ED PIECE WAS BASED ON! CHECK IT OUT!
Friday, February 4, 2011
'Corporate Takeover' Errand Girl Blackburn Gets Paid Well by Her True Constituents, Tennessean Finds
Link to: The Tennessean Feb. 4, 2011
Blackburn's leadership role brings surge in PAC giving
The Queen of Mean Again Shows
Contempt for Middle-Class Americans
Written by
Bill Theobald
GANNETT WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON — Rep. Marsha Blackburn's donations from special-interest groups skyrocketed during the last election cycle as she assumed a leadership role on a powerful House committee.
Blackburn, a Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,
received $939,544 from political action committees over the past two years,
according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
That's 38 times what she received from PACs during her first election campaign in
2002. Back then, most of her contributions came from individuals. More than half of
her recent contributions came from PACs, including many with issues before the
Energy and Commerce Committee.
More special-interest dollars are headed her way. Blackburn has scheduled at least nine fundraisers in Washington over the next two months, in addition to two held
last month, according to the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time website.
Three of the nine are billed as dinners with five guests who are expected to donate
$500-$2,000 each. Such aggressive fundraising may seem strange given that Blackburn, of Brentwood , won 72 percent of the vote in last year's election, doesn't face re-election until 2012 and started the year with $849,056 in her campaign account.
But her fundraising is standard for a lawmaker seeking to advance in Congress
in these respects:
Her large campaign bank account creates a strong disincentive for anyone to run
against her. Republicans now control the House, and Blackburn is vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that handles commerce, manufacturing and trade. That makes her attractive to donors from the health-care, communications, finance and
insurance industries, among others.
Blackburn can use the money she raises Advertisement through her campaign committee and a separate leadership committee, Wedge PAC, to curry favor through donations to other Republican House members andcandidates, and to party committees.
She defends donations
Blackburn said her early fundraising is a way to be prepared.
"You never know what the next election cycle is going to look like," she said.
Her PAC contributions, she said, represent donations from constituents who work for
those companies.
"We have so many constituents who work for corporations, and those constituents will
ask for a contribution from that PAC to my election," she said.
Memphis-based FedEx has been Blackburn's largest donor during her House
career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington watchdog
group. The next-largest donors are AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications, the
American Bankers Association, and the National Cable & Telecommunications
Association.
Blackburn said those who object to PAC contributions usually favor public financing
of elections. "I think it is important for individuals to be able to contribute their time, their effort, their energy, their money to help those that share their philosophy of government, their philosophy of free enterprise in the private sector," Blackburn said.
She declined to discuss her political aspirations.
"It's not my job to chart my path. That's God's job," she said.
Blackburn's path probably won't take her beyond the House, at least for now. Tennessee has two popular GOP senators and a new Republican governor.
Campaign finance reform advocates say Blackburn's PAC donations show how
special-interest groups improperly gain influence with lawmakers.
"It's a sorry state of affairs when we say that this is the way the system works," said
Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen, a Washington consumer
advocacy group that favors public financing of elections. "This is the classic case of
influence-peddling."
Blackburn's campaign committee raised nearly $1.6 million during 2009-10. Of
that, $858,544 came from PACs. Her biggest backers were PACs representing
health care ($249,817) and communications/technology ($105,250),
according to an analysis by Congressional Quarterly.
In addition, Wedge PAC raised $146,839 over the two-year cycle, with $81,000
coming from PACs.
Blackburn's Wedge PAC leadership committee and her campaign committee
donated a combined $274,225 in 2009 and 2010 to candidates and party
committees, including $148,500 to the National Republican Congressional
Committee. The NRCC supports the campaigns of GOP House candidates
around the country.
When Blackburn first ran for Congress, she raised $24,665 from PACs, out of a total of $648,824.
Businesses back billls
Legislation Blackburn has introduced reflects the interests of many of her PAC
donors.
Three bills she introduced in January have a long list of GOP co-sponsors and backing
from many in the business community. One is a proposed substitute for the health-
care reform law enacted last year, another would block the Environmental Protection
Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and the third would block the
Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet.
These are the first major bills Blackburn has introduced during her eight years in
the House that are likely to receive committee hearings and could come up for
final votes in the GOP-controlled chamber.
Strategy isn't unusual
Blackburn's fundraising strategy isn't unusual. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who came
to the House the same year as Blackburn and is now in leadership, received about
$1 million in PAC contributions over the past two years and gave nearly $1 million
to House candidates and party committees.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., another member of Blackburn's class and a Democratic House leader, raised $1.3 million from PACs in 2009-10 and doled out about $2 million to candidate and party committees.
The Sunlight Foundation's list of 11 Blackburn fundraisers from January to
March isn't comprehensive because the group gets its information from invitations
anonymously forwarded by lobbyists and others, said Nancy Watzman, a consultant
with the foundation. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Chattanooga, is the only
other member of the 11-member Tennessee congressional delegation with
events this year listed on the site.
Blackburn's first event was a Jan. 19 lunch at The Capitol Hill Club, a Republican-run
venue blocks from the Capitol. The suggested contribution was $1,000 a PAC
or $500 a person. "Co-hosting" the event cost $2,000 a PAC or $1,000 a person. Six
of Blackburn's nine remaining events are scheduled in March.
Holman, with Public Citizen, said Blackburn's campaign fundraising is "potentially corrupting."
"If they give you money, it is very, very difficult to say no to these contributors,"
Holman said. "This a potential problem. It needs to be watched."
One of Blackburn's largest donors, AT&T, declined a reporter's request for comment on its contributions, but not before contacting Blackburn's office to alert staffers to the request.
Contact Bill Theobald at
http://www.blogger.com/goog_2103558846
Blackburn's leadership role brings surge in PAC giving The Queen of Mean Again Shows
Contempt for Middle-Class Americans
Written by
Bill Theobald
GANNETT WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON — Rep. Marsha Blackburn's donations from special-interest groups skyrocketed during the last election cycle as she assumed a leadership role on a powerful House committee.
Blackburn, a Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,
received $939,544 from political action committees over the past two years,
according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
That's 38 times what she received from PACs during her first election campaign in
2002. Back then, most of her contributions came from individuals. More than half of
her recent contributions came from PACs, including many with issues before the
Energy and Commerce Committee.
More special-interest dollars are headed her way. Blackburn has scheduled at least nine fundraisers in Washington over the next two months, in addition to two held
last month, according to the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time website.
Three of the nine are billed as dinners with five guests who are expected to donate
$500-$2,000 each. Such aggressive fundraising may seem strange given that Blackburn, of Brentwood , won 72 percent of the vote in last year's election, doesn't face re-election until 2012 and started the year with $849,056 in her campaign account.
But her fundraising is standard for a lawmaker seeking to advance in Congress
in these respects:
Her large campaign bank account creates a strong disincentive for anyone to run
against her. Republicans now control the House, and Blackburn is vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that handles commerce, manufacturing and trade. That makes her attractive to donors from the health-care, communications, finance and
insurance industries, among others.
Blackburn can use the money she raises Advertisement through her campaign committee and a separate leadership committee, Wedge PAC, to curry favor through donations to other Republican House members andcandidates, and to party committees.
She defends donations
Blackburn said her early fundraising is a way to be prepared.
"You never know what the next election cycle is going to look like," she said.
Her PAC contributions, she said, represent donations from constituents who work for
those companies.
"We have so many constituents who work for corporations, and those constituents will
ask for a contribution from that PAC to my election," she said.
Memphis-based FedEx has been Blackburn's largest donor during her House
career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington watchdog
group. The next-largest donors are AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications, the
American Bankers Association, and the National Cable & Telecommunications
Association.
Blackburn said those who object to PAC contributions usually favor public financing
of elections. "I think it is important for individuals to be able to contribute their time, their effort, their energy, their money to help those that share their philosophy of government, their philosophy of free enterprise in the private sector," Blackburn said.
She declined to discuss her political aspirations.
"It's not my job to chart my path. That's God's job," she said.
Blackburn's path probably won't take her beyond the House, at least for now. Tennessee has two popular GOP senators and a new Republican governor.
Campaign finance reform advocates say Blackburn's PAC donations show how
special-interest groups improperly gain influence with lawmakers.
"It's a sorry state of affairs when we say that this is the way the system works," said
Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen, a Washington consumer
advocacy group that favors public financing of elections. "This is the classic case of
influence-peddling."
Blackburn's campaign committee raised nearly $1.6 million during 2009-10. Of
that, $858,544 came from PACs. Her biggest backers were PACs representing
health care ($249,817) and communications/technology ($105,250),
according to an analysis by Congressional Quarterly.
In addition, Wedge PAC raised $146,839 over the two-year cycle, with $81,000
coming from PACs.
Blackburn's Wedge PAC leadership committee and her campaign committee
donated a combined $274,225 in 2009 and 2010 to candidates and party
committees, including $148,500 to the National Republican Congressional
Committee. The NRCC supports the campaigns of GOP House candidates
around the country.
When Blackburn first ran for Congress, she raised $24,665 from PACs, out of a total of $648,824.
Businesses back billls
Legislation Blackburn has introduced reflects the interests of many of her PAC
donors.
Three bills she introduced in January have a long list of GOP co-sponsors and backing
from many in the business community. One is a proposed substitute for the health-
care reform law enacted last year, another would block the Environmental Protection
Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and the third would block the
Federal Communications Commission from regulating the Internet.
These are the first major bills Blackburn has introduced during her eight years in
the House that are likely to receive committee hearings and could come up for
final votes in the GOP-controlled chamber.
Strategy isn't unusual
Blackburn's fundraising strategy isn't unusual. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who came
to the House the same year as Blackburn and is now in leadership, received about
$1 million in PAC contributions over the past two years and gave nearly $1 million
to House candidates and party committees.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., another member of Blackburn's class and a Democratic House leader, raised $1.3 million from PACs in 2009-10 and doled out about $2 million to candidate and party committees.
The Sunlight Foundation's list of 11 Blackburn fundraisers from January to
March isn't comprehensive because the group gets its information from invitations
anonymously forwarded by lobbyists and others, said Nancy Watzman, a consultant
with the foundation. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Chattanooga, is the only
other member of the 11-member Tennessee congressional delegation with
events this year listed on the site.
Blackburn's first event was a Jan. 19 lunch at The Capitol Hill Club, a Republican-run
venue blocks from the Capitol. The suggested contribution was $1,000 a PAC
or $500 a person. "Co-hosting" the event cost $2,000 a PAC or $1,000 a person. Six
of Blackburn's nine remaining events are scheduled in March.
Holman, with Public Citizen, said Blackburn's campaign fundraising is "potentially corrupting."
"If they give you money, it is very, very difficult to say no to these contributors,"
Holman said. "This a potential problem. It needs to be watched."
One of Blackburn's largest donors, AT&T, declined a reporter's request for comment on its contributions, but not before contacting Blackburn's office to alert staffers to the request.
Contact Bill Theobald at
http://www.blogger.com/goog_2103558846
Thursday, October 14, 2010
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